


the way it began

by shinyhappyfitsofrage



Series: the story of love is hello, goodbye [8]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: College, F/M, Fluff, Not my best, Romance, Teen Romance, old fic, sats & waltz
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 11:58:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7573231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinyhappyfitsofrage/pseuds/shinyhappyfitsofrage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Artemis falls in love with him the same way the music under her floor begins.</p><p>Prompt #9940 - pulse</p>
            </blockquote>





	the way it began

**Author's Note:**

> ((old work, written before i really understood what college applications were or how they worked, so bear with me, but some of it is okay))
> 
> Prompt #9940 - pulse

Artemis falls in love with him in the same way the music under her floor begins.

They are sitting in her living room and they’re watching old reruns of _Drake & Josh_ on television, while her mother sleeps in the other room. It’s almost midnight, and Paula probably thinks Wally left hours ago. He had arrived at their doorstep soaked to the bone and carrying several SAT prep books, cradled in his arms and wrapped in his jacket like a gift. The books were long forgotten, like they were every study session, by ten thirty, and now it was raucous humor with the volume on low and her head in his lap and the rain that beats on the window, but maybe in a friendly way. She likes the way he smells (city rain, soap, and barbecue) and she likes the rug under her bare, prickly legs, and she does not know it yet but this is the most content she will ever feel.

“Quiz me,” he demands suddenly, during a commercial break. She glances up, to see a rigid jaw and green eyes squinting petulantly down at her.

“Now?” she says through barely opened lips. She  closes her eyes and stretches, arching her back, extending her arms and legs as long and lean as they ever can be. Her hands clasp around each other behind his back and she tugs on his torso. “It’s like… much late. Um.”

“Wow,” he says. “I’m glad constant drilling has really helped to refine your English Language skills. Remarkable. Extraordinary. Magnificent.”

She thumps on his back and he splutters. “I’m not quizzing you at –“ She fumbles for the remote, and presses the info button. The program details and time pop up. “Twelve thirty-seven,” she finishes grimly. “God.”

“Reminder that my SAT’s are in exactly one week.” He cocks his head, and when he thinks late at night he squints one eye shut and the other travels up to the ceiling. It is endearingly hilarious. “Well, a week from yesterday, technically.”

“Sucks to your assmar,” mumbles Artemis.

 “If I’m going to get into Stanford,” he says righteously, “I need a _sterling_ score.”

Artemis, who had just closed her eyes to more fully appreciate the sleep smell that fills the room, shoves herself upright with her elbows. She mutes the television. Her lower jaw juts out and her eyes are narrowed as she stares at Wally. “What do you mean, _Stanford_?” she says, and she is careful not to let herself think too hard about that.

His shoulders cave in a little bit. “Well, yeah,” he says, uncomfortable. “I mean, you’re going there. I thought, um. And there’s, well, science stuff. Uh, is this… a problem?”

She is at a loss for words, her lips barely closed. She opens and closes her mouth wordlessly, like Drake on the television, as she tries to convey to him how she dreams in black and white and how Stanford was an escape, but maybe it doesn’t have to be, and maybe it can be home as much as her living room and his bedroom and the mission briefing room is. She tries to say all this, except the breathy silence has led to the discovery that there are vibrations softly beating the floorboards. It’s music from the apartment downstairs, and Artemis smiles as she stares at a knot in the wood, and she laughs, and he understands.

And when Wally stands up and bows to her, albeit very clumsily, she gets up with him and her windows are treated to the sloppiest excuse for a waltz that ever was. She contemplates how highly improbable he is as she rests her head against his chest and she contemplates the possibilities such as _abiding contemporaneously_ and _perdurable rapports_.

Artemis fell in love with Wally like the music under her floorboards began; gently, and completely without her realizing it.


End file.
